I wonder if apple really is tired of the copycats, as pointed out in the article. If so, then apple doesn't have the motivation to create a radical new design. Why should they? It'll just be copied by samsung and the usual suspects.

One thing the writer didn't point out was that it's hard to change up the design of your os when you're entrenched. MS had to create something different for their mobile os, because they would've died or been relegated to obscurity. RIM will need something special for 2013, because they probably will die.

One thing I will quibble about: if I need my phone to bring excitement to my life, then I need to get a life. I expect my phone to do what I need and work with what I've got. Smartphones are supposed to be functional. If I need fun, I drink beer or have sex.

I agree they can't change the design every year but I'm amazed that some say it looks completely different, I don't get it. It's basically the 4/4s but thinner and taller.

Apple has improved on a good design, yes NFC and wireless charging would be nice but I don't think they are needed. Especially the wireless charging. Besides someone is bound to come out with an adapter like the did with the 4s.

And in the end many are going to put a cover on it so all the hard work in designing the new look would be wasted anyway.

I wonder if apple really is tired of the copycats, as pointed out in the article. If so, then apple doesn't have the motivation to create a radical new design. Why should they? It'll just be copied by samsung and the usual suspects.

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Right...

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The Mini had a worthy replacement - the flash-based iPod Nano - and it was likely that favorable price points for flash memory were a driving force in the new product. But why not milk it? The Mini had been on the market a year and a half and Apple was still having difficulty keeping the Mini in stock. Why kill a best-selling product? I think the reason, and, more importantly, an emerging Apple strategy, was announced as part of the keynote. Steve spent multiple slides showing off the Minis competition, and, not surprisingly, it looked a lot like the Mini. So rather than letting them catch up, he changed the game.

If there was ever a moment where Steve Jobs tipped his hand regarding what drives him, it was this moment.

I wonder if apple really is tired of the copycats, as pointed out in the article. If so, then apple doesn't have the motivation to create a radical new design. Why should they? It'll just be copied by samsung and the usual suspects.

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I would argue that Apple is too busy litigating to innovate. I think they are just getting lazy, with some amazing products they have hit the top but....Why should one "create something different" whilst they can get $$$ from patents and pull competitors products that compete with them.

The problem being top dog is that you get complacent... and boring. Look at Sony.

I think the missing factor here is Jobs, he pushed people to produce products beyond expectations, I am sure Enigneers/designers hated him at apple, cause when they thought the product was done, jobs would say that is not good enough, and hence we got some amazing products.

Now, his legacy products/designs are just evolving, the innovation comes from better manufacturing process and upgraded parts. Since his passing the Ipad/Iphone design have remain same, with upgraded internals.

That article is bang on. I really look forward to getting mine, it'll be a hefty upgrade from my old 4 in many departments, but it definitely doesn't have the wow factor of previous years. Not really a criticism, I've seen nothing across the whole landscape for a couple of years that's not simply an incremental evolution of everything we've seen before.

The S3? Brilliant phone I'm sure, but does it having a bigger screen mean it's somehow more amazing? Of course not, and I say that as someone who, ideally, wanted a 4.5" iPhone.

As someone who has an iPhone for personal use and a company provided android for work, I have a good bit of experience with both and whilst the 'specs' of the androids kick the iPhone in the nuts. The actual experience of the OS and the software is nowhere near as good.

Typing on the Android is a pain, I hate trying to select text to copy.

I never know what it's going to select, weither it will just seemingly randomly select a block of text and ask if I want to copy or delete it.

Web browsing on the android is equally painful, I have tried firefox, and opera, they made things a bit better, but it is still not as well executed as the experience on the iPhone.

Also, my Android frequently slows down, locking up the interface for a few seconds at a time, when I did was unlock it to make a call.

I have removed as much software from it as I can, but there is a lot of carrier provided junk that I can't delete.

That is just the tip of the iceberg, not everything is worse on android, something's are better, I like the customizable home screens and widgets, I like the quick access to screen brightness, I like the form factor of the galaxy s3, I would really enjoy reading technical PDF books on an iOS device that size.

They could have kept the resolution of the current 4, but just made it taller and wider, use ceramics instead of heavy glass, keeping only glass where needed (the screen) to save weight.

Right now, I am actually split about the new iPhone. I am happy with the speed of the iPhone 4, it is always snappy, it does everything I want it to, 32GB is enough space for all the music I want to carry with me.

I am also pretty adept now at fixing iPhones, I have changed the frame and front and back panels on mine, my wife's and regularly replace my friends smashed screens. So my battery is new and my phone looks unique.

I was set on getting the new iPhone just on the basis that my 2 year contract is paid off and I can get a new one "for free" (paying for it monthly). But I might have just talked myself out of it.

Maybe iOS 6 will have some code in it to make iPhone 4 run really slow and that'll force me to change!

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